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My Little Pony Fan Labor Wiki:Workshop/Post Nuptials
Post Nuptials is a fan fiction written by Darth Link 22. It is set around the time of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's second wedding during the events of the two-part episode "A Canterlot Wedding". In the story, the main characters deal with the emotional fallout caused by the changelings' invasion, including Twilight Sparkle's outburst at the fake Cadance (Queen Chrysalis) during the wedding rehearsal, her friends' cold reaction towards said outburst, and everyone's subsequent guilt over their actions. The story has since spawned a direct sequel and two standalone side stories, making this the first installment of a series of fan fictions called the Nuptialverse.__TOC__ Style Post Nuptials is written in past tense from a third-person point of view. It is divided into ten chapters told in a slightly anachronic order, each chapter having an omniscient narrator and focusing on a different character, starting with Twilight Sparkle. Chapter 2 is set immediately afterward and is told from Princess Celestia's perspective. The next six chapters take place during the events of the second chapter and are synchronous with each other, each told from the perspective of Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Spike, respectively and in that order. Chapter 9, told from Shining Armor's perspective, is chronologically the earliest chapter, taking place before chapter 1. The final chapter returns to Twilight's perspective and is set after the other nine chapters. Summary The story opens immediately after Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's second wedding ceremony, held after they thwart the changelings' invasion plot during the first ceremony. Twilight Sparkle is in her suite preparing for the postnuptial reception when she is by Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity. The five express great remorse for shunning Twilight after the latter had accused Cadance, later revealed to be the changelings' leader Queen Chrysalis in disguise, of being evil during her wedding rehearsal. Twilight insists that she has already forgiven them, and that only Chrysalis is to blame. The five are shocked by Twilight's leniency and tearfully hug her, promising to throw a party for her for when they return home. Soon after the reception begins, Princess Celestia retires to her bedchambers. Princess Luna notices something amiss and visits Celestia in her room to find her crying. Celestia blames herself for letting her her kingdom down by letting Chrysalis fool her and ignoring Twilight's warnings. Luna offers to let Twilight speak with Celestia, but Celestia still feels ashamed for hurting Twilight and refuses. Luna nevertheless tells Twilight what is troubling her mentor as the reception ends, and Twilight enters Celestia's room to comfort her. The two apologize to each other before falling asleep. Meanwhile, during the reception, Twilight's friends continue to feel guilty. They run into other party guests and discuss their feelings with them: Rainbow with Soarin'; Rarity with Fancypants; Applejack with her cousin Apple Fritter; Fluttershy with Iron Will; Pinkie with Princess Luna; and Spike with the Cutie Mark Crusaders. Each of them resolves to talk with Twilight again, except for Spike, who confesses that he views Twilight like his mother and now believes she would never want him as a son. Additionally, Rainbow meets with Scootaloo and asks her about her parents, but is perplexed when Scootaloo suddenly becomes uncomfortable and leaves; Pinkie, meanwhile, admits to Luna that she has been hiding the truth of her relationship with her birth parents from her friends and the Cakes, and makes a Pinkie Promise to tell them about it. The setting shifts to Twilight's arrangement of the second wedding. Shining Armor finds Twilight and tells her his plans to call off the wedding, believing he has failed as a potential husband, a guard captain, and a brother. Twilight angrily rebukes him for doing something that would break Cadance's heart. She then confesses that she is still mad at everyone for ignoring her, and that she is afraid of what could have happened if she had been wrong about the fake princess. Twilight agrees to talk with her friends the next chance she gets while Shining agrees to go on with the wedding, making Twilight his Best Mare again. When approached by her friends before the reception, Twilight is taken aback by their guilt and decides to wait before she reveals her true feelings to them. Twilight awakens the morning after the reception and, with encouragement from Celestia, meets with her friends on the train to Ponyville, all of them ready to hear Twilight's side of the story. Twilight admits her anger at her friends and her fear of losing them over her outburst, but the five assure her that they would have forgiven her if she was wrong. After the six friends happily reconcile with each other, Twilight and Rainbow Dash bring up their plans to investigate Spike and Scootaloo's odd behavior from the reception, while Pinkie mulls over her promise to Princess Luna. Characters Twilight Sparkle Twilight Sparkle plays a central role in Post Nuptials for the part she plays during the wedding rehearsal scene in the episode A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1. In the scene, Twilight believes Shining Armor's bride Princess Cadance to be evil after seeing the princess putting her friends down and seemingly casting a brainwashing spell on her brother. After Twilight verbally assaults Cadance for her behavior and sends her running off in tears, her friends, Shining Armor, and Princess Celestia become disgusted with Twilight's childish behavior and ban her from the wedding, leaving her brokenhearted and guilt-ridden over losing her friends through her actions. By Part 2, however, Twilight discovers that her suspicions are correct as "Cadance" reveals herself to be the changeling Queen Chrysalis disguised as the real princess. She forgives her friends for ignoring her, saying they only did it because Chrysalis had fooled everyone, including her. Twilight serves as the focus of attention for all the other characters who, in every chapter, mention her outburst against the fake Cadance and her subsequent heartache at being shunned by her friends. In Chapter 1, Twilight appears to still be dismissive of her friends abandoning her, and seems incredulous that they still feel guilty for it. She also expresses embarrassment in her own failure to gather evidence of the fake princess's evilness before making accusations, comparing her actions to her freakout in the episode Lesson Zero, which she uses to rationalize her friends not believing her. However, it is revealed in Chapter 9 that not only does Twilight harbor a grudge against her friends, but she fears that they have little faith in her and would never have forgiven her if she had turned out to be wrong. It is only by Chapter 10, when she confesses her fears to everyone and is assured otherwise by her friends, that she manages to truly forgive both them and, to an extent, herself. Mane Five Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Rarity collectively play a major role in Post Nuptials. During A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, the five conclude from Twilight's behavior towards Cadance that their friend is being possessive of their brother, and that the fake Cadance's own foul behavior stems from premarital stress. They are chosen as Cadance's new bridesmaids after the old ones go missing, and are present at the wedding rehearsal where Twilight chases Cadance away and is rebuked by her brother for it. The five similarly express their disappointment in Twilight by cold-shouldering her as they leave to find Cadance. In Part 2, after Queen Chrysalis proves Twilight's suspicions correct and taunts the five for ignoring her in favor of arranging a wedding, Applejack apologizes to Twilight on their behalf. In Chapter 1, the five are presented as being so guilt-ridden for betraying Twilight that they argue they have never been good friends, listing moments from several other episodes where they had acted poorly towards her as "proof" (fighting over Twilight's extra Grand Galloping Gala ticket in The Ticket Master, laughing off her breakdown in Lesson Zero, etc.). When Twilight insists that they are ignoring the good moments in their friendship that came from the bad ones, and that she has forgiven them for their mistakes, the five are reduced to tears and promise to make it up to her, though she insists they should not. During each of their respective chapters (Chapters 3 through 7), the five tell the other party guests that they had expected Twilight to furiously rebuke them, and now feel even worse for what they have done. Through their conversations with the other guests, each friend manages to sort out her own feelings and resolves to speak with Twilight a second time. Upon learning of Twilight's self-hatred for her outburst in Chapter 10, the five end up reminding her that the bad moments in their friendship have always lead to good ones, and assure her that despite their initial anger at her, they had always planned to talk to her after they wedding and certainly would have forgiven her if she was wrong about Cadance. Rainbow Dash In Chapter 1, after being forgiven by Twilight for betraying her, Rainbow Dash hysterically reprimands Twilight for not being mad at them like she is "supposed to". She explains her reasons for acting this way in Chapter 3 to Soarin', with whom she strikes up a romantic relationship. She tells him that, shortly after the rehearsal, she had argued they should never let Twilight live her outburst down; upon learning the truth of the fake princess, Rainbow became deeply ashamed of how hard she was on Twilight, and wanted her to get even by treating them just as hard. She also suggests that she had betrayed her Element of Loyalty by abandoning a close friend in favor of a pony she had just met. Rainbow's guilt also affects her relationship with Scootaloo in Chapter 3. When she meets Scootaloo at the reception, Rainbow remembers that, similar to what she had planned to do to Twilight, she had crucified Scootaloo and the Cutie Mark Crusaders over their gossip column in the episode Ponyville Confidential, which she apologizes to Scootaloo for. Rainbow determines that she can redeem herself for betraying Twilight by helping Scootaloo, noticing the filly's anxiety when Rainbow first mentions her parents, which also demonstrates that Rainbow has developed a keener awareness of others' feelings through her experiences. Rarity In her focal chapter, Chapter 4, Rarity fraternizes with Fancypants, depicting the two as very close friends. She tells him her and her friends' belief that they had put their excitement about putting together a high-profile wedding before Twilight's feelings. Rarity thus feels that, similar to Rainbow Dash, she had betrayed her Element of Generosity through her desire to generate business through her dresses. She draws comparisons between this and her actions in Sweet and Elite, where she designed Twilight's birthday dress to show up Jet Set and Upper Crust rather than make a gift Twilight would enjoy. When asked by Fancypants if Twilight is harboring guilt over her own actions, Rarity realizes with horror that she had failed to consider Twilight's feelings during their initial apology, and hardens her resolve to reconcile with Twilight. Applejack Fluttershy Pinkie Pie Princess Celestia Princess Celestia is only featured in Chapters 2 and 10 of Post Nuptials, with the former focusing mostly on her. She spends much of A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 on her balcony, surveying any signs of threats to Shining Armor's defensive barrier around Canterlot. Like the others present at the wedding rehearsal, Celestia is livid with Twilight for her outburst against Cadance, and is the last to leave her, coldly instructing her student to think about what she has done. In Part 2, "Cadance" is exposed to everyone as Queen Chrysalis by Twilight and the real Cadance. Celestia attacks Chrysalis head-on, but is overwhelmed and defeated by the Changeling Queen's power absorbed from Shining's love, and dispatches Twilight and her friends to retrieve the Elements of Harmony. Once the changelings are defeated by Shining and Cadance, Celestia tasks Twilight with arranging a new wedding, and warmly commends her student for bringing about their victory by trusting her instincts. When she first appears during the reception in Chapter 2, Celestia dodges Luna's inquiries of her failure to notice the fake Cadance's behavior, saying she was "distracted" at the time. When questioned a second time, Celestia shows herself to be distraught over letting herself be fooled by Chrysalis and breaking Twilight's heart because of it, confessing to loving Twilight like a daughter. She additionally shows self-pity for leaving Cadance to suffer for days in the caves beneath Canterlot, and for treating Twilight as "her loyal little attack dog" by sending her to retrieve the Elements of Harmony like she had against Nightmare Moon and Discord. Her guilt culminates with a nightmare she has in which Nightmare Moon, a changeling-turned Cadance, Chrysalis, Discord, and his "Queen of Chaos" Twilight scorn her for her failures. Through Luna's intervention, Celestia spends the night with Twilight and reaffirms her love and faith in her student. In Chapter 10, she awakens the next morning relieved of her sadness, and encourages Twilight to discuss her true feelings with her friends. Spike Shining Armor Other characters Soarin' serves as an understanding source of comfort and encouragement for Rainbow, letting her vent her sadness before helping her work up the courage to face Twilight again. He also eventually becomes Rainbow's coltfriend, agreeing to go on a date together eventually. Reception Post Nuptials was met with widespread popularity and acclaim on FIMFiction. By May 30, 2012, the story received 306 "likes" and 1 "dislike" from users; Darth Link 22 posted that such positive reception "blew him away".Post Nuptials update It amassed 548 "likes" and 9 "dislikes" by its completion on June 29, 2012, and reached over 1,000 "likes" by October 2012. As of March 2013, the story has received 1,381 "likes" and 29 "dislikes". It has also received 94,484 views, and has been listed as a favorite of 1,826 users.Post Nuptials Darth Link 22 has tried to submit the story to Equestria Daily upon revising the story on July 6, 2012, but it was never featured.Post Nuptials: Behind the Scenes Readers have praised the story for addressing plot holes and providing better closure for the subplot in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 wherein Twilight's suspicions of Cadance are ignored by her friends, which is only briefly addressed in Part 2. However, criticism was drawn towards the middle six chapters for being too repetative in their presentation of the characters. This criticism is shared by Darth Link 22, who has expressed a desire to rewrite the story to make it less drawn out.S3 and the Nuptialverse Derivative works Two side stories set during the events of Post Nuptials were released: Metamorphosis, released on July 14, 2012, and Honeymoon, released on October 17, 2012. Both were written as chapters for Post Nuptials, but were released as one-shot stories for being too dark and shifting from the original story's focus, respectively.Coming Attractions A direct sequel to the original story, Families, was released on July 23, 2012, with a second sequel planned. On February 16, 2013, FIMFiction user "BronyRanger" announced plans to create a fanmade animation based on Post Nuptials. The adaptation will omit all hints to the original story's sequel Families, alcohol references, and the make-out scene between Vinyl Scratch and Octavia in chapter 6 to better adhere to the canon and kid-friendly nature of .Post Nuptials adaption concept Darth Link 22 has expressed interest in contributing a rewrite of the story for the adaptation. References